Popstar Vanessa Amorosi fronts Melbourne court after suing mum over family properties
The Aussie songstress claims her life has been left in “limbo” after falling out with her mother, who took control of the star’s finances when she was a teen.
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Aussie popstar Vanessa Amorosi claims that a bitter feud with her mum over family properties has put her life in “limbo” and caused “enormous pressure on her marriage”, court documents reveal.
The singing sensation jetted to Melbourne from her USA home to face her mother Joyleen Robinson in a Supreme Court trial on Tuesday, where she was supported by ex-manager and Australian Idol judge Mark Holden.
The 42-year-old is suing her mother over the family’s Narre Warren property and the Californian home where she lives with her young son that’s owned by a trust – houses she claims were purchased through income and royalties from her massive success as a recording artist.
The Melbourne-born star claims her mum “engaged in unconscionable conduct” when she took control of the 17-year-old schoolgirl’s finances in 1999, and wants restitution, the sale of the Narre Warren home and to be appointed trustee of Llama Investment Holdings Pty Ltd, which holds her Californian property along with $650k debt.
In the first day of a four-day trial, Amorosi and her mother sat just a few seats from one another in a packed public gallery as the singer was supported by a friend sitting on the floor beside her, while another woman passed her tissues.
Her lawyers stated in court documents that the star’s “life has been in limbo for many years due to this dispute and the financial strain of funding the dispute put enormous pressure on her marriage”.
“She stopped making necessary improvements to the West Hills home where she lives with her son because she has been unsure for years about her ownership of the property,” Amorosi’s lawyer Dominica Sophia Tannock said in an affidavit to the court.
“As the trial date has approached, she has been experiencing escalating levels of stress which make her feel unwell. She has been performing in Australia recently despite feeling unwell.
“When she is working, the dispute with her family is an embarrassing distraction and she is invariably confronted with requests for comment about the family dispute, rather than her work or her new album which she is trying to promote.”
Mrs Robinson applied again on Tuesday to have the long-awaited trial pushed back after she hired new lawyers weeks ago when previous counsel stepped aside in August over a conflict of interest.
But judge Justice Steven Moore rejected her bid for a four-week adjournment, lashing the request as he asked her barrister Daniel Harrison, “What sort of temerity is that?”
“It smacks of an arrogance, frankly, that litigants come to court and say that it suits us … in a month,” His Honour said.
Amorosi’s barrister Philip Solomon KC suggested the adjournment request was a delaying tactic, noting that Mrs Robinson and husband Peter appeared to have taken a weeks-long holiday amid the hunt for a new lawyer.
Mr Robinson had posted photos on social media with his wife and family members, along with a witness in the case, between 19 August to 16 September “which appear to show them happy and travelling in Sydney, on a cruise, with descriptions linked to the photographs such as “holiday time”,” according to documents.
Meanwhile, concerns were raised that any setback in the court case could delay the release of Amorosi’s new album, which she was in the process of producing and intended to release in May 2024.
Justice Moore called for the trial to carry on, with Mr Solomon telling the court it was a “straightforward case” concerning two properties bought with funds derived from the singer’s lucrative career.
The Boundary Rd, Narre Warren home was a “semi rural property” on 20 acres which had Amorosi and her mother as tenants in common.
Mr Solomon said the property was purchased in 2001, when Amorosi was 20, through “Vanjoy”, a company co-owned by Amorosi and her mum where the singer’s $1.3m income had gone through.
Papers show Vanjoy was set up by Mrs Robinson to “protect (Amorosi) from creditors”.
That same year, another trust account, Llama, was set up that Mr Solomon said acted like a superannuation fund for assets.
Mr Robinson, Amorosi’s stepfather, remains the director of Llama, which owns the singer’s Californian home.
Mr Solomon told the court: “If different structures had been set out or if those who ought to
have been protecting her had done so honestly, there wouldn’t be a controversy 22 years later.”
“It’s a matter of regret and disappointment for Vanessa Amorosi that her mother has done to her what’s occurred,” he said.
“It’s always vexing for a family dispute to play out in court.”
Documents show Amorosi “first became concerned that her mother, Mrs Robinson, may have improperly appropriated money and assets belonging to her in about 2014 or 2015”.
Since then, she had been “pursuing the alleged misappropriation” by hiring lawyers, forensic accountants and finally, filing the civil court case in March 2021.
The trial, which will sit for four days over this week and next week, will hear evidence from Amorosi, her mother, stepfather and two friends.
The singer is expected to give evidence on Thursday.
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